When anyone has received a divine commission, he does not need to prove it. His credentials are written large upon his life and message. It was so with John the Baptist. There was no need for him to argue his claims. The crowds in the Jordan valley; the multitudes in the baptismal waters, were sufficient to attest him as God’s servant. What he said about God and sin found corroboration in their hearts. So it was with our Lord. The masses of people that followed him and hung on his words had no doubt that he was the heir of the vineyard. The leaders professed to doubt it, because, to use the language of the parable that follows, they were

reluctant to surrender their claims to the ownership of the vineyard.

Probably, sufficient stress has not been laid upon the supreme intellectual power of our Lord, which shone out so clearly in these conflicts with Hebrew casuists, and in which he always came off conqueror, by the sheer force of his mind. “We have the mind of Christ!”

74. “The Stone Which the Builders Rejected.”

Luke 20: 9-18. The vineyard represents the privileges and blessings of the Hebrew race. The servants are evidently the prophets and others sent from God. Whatever our position in life, God expects a revenue from it. We are not owners, but tenants; not proprietors, but stewards. Are you sure that you are giving God the dues which he may justly claim?

It is said that in the building of Solomon’s Temple, a valuable carved stone was cast aside and neglected, till a part of the structure absolutely called for it. You may build society as you like, but there will come a time when Christ will be needed to give the finishing touch.